Aykroyd and Curtin Make a Buzz Again / `Saturday Night Live' actors reunite to play snooty wasps in `Antz'

Ruthe Stein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, September 27, 1998

1998-09-27 04:00:00 PDT Toronto -- DreamWorks SKG co-chief Jeffrey Katzenberg personally called Dan Aykroyd to offer him a role in the studio's first animated movie, "Antz." As if that weren't enough of an enticement, Katzenberg sweetened the deal by promising Aykroyd his favorite co-star, Jane Curtin.

The two were in the original cast of "Saturday Night Live" in the late '70s, playing Ma and Pa Conehead. Aykroyd also memorably was one of the Blues Brothers, with John Belushi, and Curtin was unforgettable as the snippy anchor of "Weekend Update."

Aside from appearing together in the "Coneheads" movie five years ago, Aykroyd and Curtin hardly have seen each other since their "SNL" days. Curtin lives in Los Angeles, where she stars in the hit TV series "3rd Rock From the Sun." Aykroyd writes from his homes in New York and Canada.

While making "Antz," which opens Friday, didn't bring them physically any closer, at least their voices got to interact. They provide the voices for a couple of wasps who rescue an incredibly neurotic ant voiced by -- who else? -- Woody Allen.

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Aykroyd recorded his role first, playing his character as a haughty, snobbish elitist -- a WASP in the worst sense of the acronym.

"Dan set the tone. I just picked up the ball and followed him," Curtin said.

After she recorded her bit, it was sent back to Aykroyd. "At the second session, I had the benefit of Jane's performance," he recalled.

They finally got together for the premiere of "Antz" last weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, where they received the full star treatment with mikes thrust at them.

The next morning, Curtin, 51, passed up a breakfast buffet in a hotel suite. But Aykroyd, 46, who has put on some heft in recent years, grabbed a muffin and started talking with his mouth full.

Although "Antz," which begins with Allen's voice whining to a shrink about never getting any attention in a family of 5 million, seems pretty sophisticated for a children's film, Aykroyd said he was sure his 5-year-old would get it.

His bio, available on the Internet, lists several children from a first marriage that ended in divorce. But Aykroyd made all that up when he first became famous at age 24.

"That was disinformation I put into 'Who's Who in America' because I despise that book. I think it's elitist and horrible. My mother-in-law saw it and was all alarmed," said Aykroyd, who has been married just once, to actress Donna Dixon, with whom he has three daughters.

Laughing, Curtin said she really has been married to writer Patrick Lynch for 23 years and really does have a teenage daughter.

Both Curtin and Aykroyd look back on "Saturday Night Live" as a high point in their careers. "It was really over the top, noncerebral bits and sketches," he said.

The show came along at a time when there was a "hole in sketch comedy," Curtin said. "There was no satire or anything with substance to it on TV. You couldn't do any political humor on prime time because it might offend someone.

"Our whole thing was to just say it like it is and if it offends someone, OK. We got away with it because it was funny, it was new. Also, we were not the pretty faces you would see on television at that time."

Aykroyd continued to work with Belushi after they left the show in 1979. They starred in the enormously popular "Blues Brothers" movie in 1980. Belushi's death from a drug overdose two years later devastated Aykroyd.

"I think about John all the time. I miss where he was headed. He was headed toward more thoughtful work. He actually was quite well read in terms of history and theater. And I miss doing the music with him and stuff."

Aykroyd's attempt to bring back the act earlier this year in a sequel, "Blues Brothers 2000," starring himself and John Goodman, failed to find an audience. Aykroyd said the film made money abroad and in video rentals, but he acknowledged that it suffered from being a "20-year-old act with a dead partner." He's toying with the idea of doing another version, but with a female partner -- possibly Queen Latifah.

"Soul Man," the 1997 sitcom in which Aykroyd played a Protestant minister, also didn't fare well. It was canceled this year. The experience soured him on ever doing another TV series.

"I'll never do that form again. It's not the way I want to make a living. It's just not something I enjoyed," said Aykroyd, who prefers to write movies with parts for himself, as he did with the hugely popular "Ghostbusters." He's also had better luck on the big screen, receiving an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for "Driving Miss Daisy."

DEVOTED TO TV

By contrast, Curtin has pretty much devoted all her energy to television -- and been handsomely rewarded. She won two Emmys for the series "Kate & Allie," which ran from 1984 to 1989, co-starring Susan Saint James.

"It was the best job for me at the time because I had a baby, and the show worked around her. She would sit in the middle of the floor, and they would just block around her," she said.

"3rd Rock," with co-star John Lithgow, has been another smash hit. "I've been so damn lucky," Curtin said.

Unlike Aykroyd, who felt constrained by the eight-month shooting schedule of a series, Curtin "loves having that chunk of time where I know where I'm going to be and then I have my summer off to do nothing, just walk the dogs, drive my daughter places. I can fill time like nobody's business."

The idea of doing nothing seems to make Aykroyd nervous. He reeled off a number of projects in the works, including opening more House of Blues clubs. He helped start the clubs, located throughout the United States.

"I'm not really the entrepreneur. I'm more of a mouthpiece and cheerleader for the company," he said.

For the March opening of its venue at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Aykroyd wants to bring together the Blues Brothers band members, including Jim Belushi (John's brother) and Goodman, to perform.

Aykroyd also is working on a script for an independent film. "I've traditionally written these massive vehicles that cost over $30 million. I'd like to do a movie that's much more contained."

ANOTHER REUNION PLANNED

His plans include Curtin as well. "We want to make a movie together, maybe a comedy where we'll be married up again," Aykroyd said.

Curtin looked up as if this was news to her. But she humored her old pal. "Of course," she said. "But by that time, we may be in walkers."

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